Lateral edge paper guide

ABSTRACT

A guide for the lateral edges of a stack of sheets of paper in which a guide plate for guiding one of the lateral edges of the stack of sheets is supported by a frame which is mounted on and slidable along a bar over the stack of sheets. The guide support frame is releasably lockable in any position along the bar and the guide plate is supported from the guide frame for inclination when contacting the lateral edge of the stack of sheets and it is resiliently biased toward contact with the lateral edge of the stack of sheets to assure proper alignment of the top sheet in the stack.

United States Patent [1 1 Giorgini i 1 LATERAL EDGE PAPER GUIDE [75] inventor: Norman L. Giorgini, West St. Paul,

Minn.

[73] Assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn.

[22] Filed: Feb. 13, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 441,963

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 311,810, Dec. 4, 1972,

[ Jan. 28, 1975 3.647.207 3/]972 McPherson 27l/l7l X Primary Examiner-Richard A. Schacher Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Alexander, Sell, Steldt & DeLaHunt [57] ABSTRACT A guide for the lateral edges of a stack of sheets of paper in which a guide plate for guiding one of the lateral edges of the. stack of sheets is supported by a frame which is mounted on and slidable along a bar abandonedover the stack of sheets. The guide support frame is releasably lockable in any position along the bar and [52] US. Cl. 271/171 the guide plate is supportedfmm the guide frame for [51] Int. Cl. B65h 1/ l2 inclination when Contacting the lateral edge of the [58] held of Search 271/145 stack of sheets and it is resiliently biased toward 271/171 contact with the lateral edge of the stack of sheets to 1 assure proper alignment of the top sheet in the stack.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 3,334,894 8/1967 Van Acker 27l/l7l X 4 20 33 v a k I i 'll' '1 Z4 Z2 m //4 25- I t F i n in... J

SHEET 10F 2 FI I PATENTED JAN28I975 FIG.Z

PATENTEB JAN 2 8 I975 SHEET 2 [IF 2 FIG. 4

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FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a lateral edge guide for a stack of sheets of paper.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The prior art, as exemplified by U.Sl Pat. No.

388,816 and 2,226,003, has long recognized the advantage of mounting lateral edge paper guides for adjustment toward and away from each other to allow for variations in the width of the sheets of paper utilized. However, adjustment of the spacing of such prior art guides has generally required the loosening of at least one thumb screw, moving of the guide and tightening of the thumb screw. And, while this may seem to be a simple task, for example in a photocopying machine it must be performed each time paper is added or stack of sheets is changed to accommodate minor variations in the manufacture and/or stacking of the sheets of paper and it has been found to require more time and energy than most people are willing to devote to the Eld-f justment.

Minor variations in the width or stacking of the sheets is accommodated in the structure disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,226,003 by edge guides which are spring biased into engagement with the lateral edges of the stack of sheets of paper. However, if the sheets are irregularly stacked so that the lateral edges of the sheets in the stack are not all aligned, the edge guides will be spaced apart-by the largest irregularity in the stacking. In such case the lateral edge guides will be spaced apart greater than the width of the sheet and the top sheet which is to be fed from the stack will not have its edges precisely located and guided. Feeding of a mispositioned sheet into a photocopying machine may cause mispositioning of the image on the copy paper andin extreme cases may cause jamming of the internal feeding mechanism in the machine and require disassembly of the machine to free it.

SUMMAY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided a guide for the lateral edges of a stack of sheets of paper supported on a tray with the transverse edges thereof horizontal as is most common. The guide includes a first planar guide surface perpendicular to the.

tray to guide one lateral edge of the stack of sheets, a support and locking bar extending over the tray and the stack of sheets parallel to the transverse edges of the sheets and a guide support frame mounted on and slidable along and releasably lockable to the support and locking bar. A guide plate having a planar surface defining a second guide surface for contacting and guiding the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets is supported for movement with the guide support frame along the guide and locking bar. And, the guide plate is supported for inclination of the second planar guide surface relative to the support and locking bar away from the first guide surface when the second guide surface is in contact with the lateral edge of the stack of sheets and it is resiliently urged to bias the second guide surface toward contact with the lateral edge of the stack of sheets.

The lateral edge paper guide of the present invention accommodates minor variations in the width and stacking of the stack of sheets without manual adjustment. And, since the guide plate is supported for inclination of the second guide surface to-assurecontact thereof with the uppermost sheet in the stack the uppermost sheet in the stack will be properly guided along both of its lateral edges even if there is some irregularity in the stacking of the sheets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top view ofa leteral edge paper guide constructed in accordance with the present invention illustrated in its intended use with a feed roller for feeding sheets from the top of the stack;

FIG. 2 is an end elevation view of the edge guide of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. I; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Thelateral edge paper guide of the present invention is constructed for use with a stack of sheets of paper 10 supported on a tray 12 with the transverse edges thereof horizontal, the illustrated tray providing a planar horizontal support for the stack of sheets 10. The tray 12 is supported for vertical movement by a machine frame 14 and it is biased vertically upward by a compression spring 16 to urge theuppermost sheet in the stack of sheets 10 into engagement with a feed roller l8.

A support and locking bar 20 extends over the tray 12 and the stack of sheets 10 parallel to'the transverse edges of the sheets and it is supported and .its ends by the machine frame 14. The bar 20 supports a pair of guide plates 22 and 24 and a guide support frame 26. The bar 20'has a ractangular cross section and the guide plates 22 and 24 and the guide support frame 26 have corresponding. rectangular apertures therethrough to permit sliding movement of the guide plates and the guide support frame in a direction parallel to the length of the guide bar without permitting rotation thereof about the bar.

The guide plate 22 is formed with a planar guide surface 23 perpendicular to the support bar 20 and the tray 12 to guide one lateral edge'of the stack of sheets 10. A set screw 29 threaded through the guide plate 22 is normally turned against the support bar 20 to stationarily position the guide plate 22 and the guide surface 28 thereof.

The guide support frame 26 straddles the support and locking bar 20 and carries a rectangular locking block 31 into contact with the lower surface of the support and locking bar 20; Above the bar 20 the guide support frame 26 is formed with an elongate locking slot 33 ex- 33 to the support and locking bar 20 be less than to form a locking angle. With angles less than 15 the locking roller 35 will roll down the locking slot 33 and wedge aganist the support and locking bar to capture it between itself and the locking block 31 when an attempt is made to move the guide support frame 26 toward the right as viewed in FIG. 2. In the illustrated embodiment the locking angle is 10.

A release lever 37 straddles the guide support frame 26 and carries the ends of the locking roller 35. From above the guide support frame 26 the release lever 37 is formed with a leg projecting downward through a guide slot 39 formed in the top of the guide support frame 26 parallel to the support and locking bar 20. The guide slot 39 guides the release lever 37 for movement parallel to the support and locking bar 20 to move the locking roller 35 away from contact with the bar 20. A.tension spring 40 connected between the guide support frame 26 and the downward projecting leg of the release lever.37 urges the lever to carry the locking roller 35 into contact with the support and locking bar The guide plate 24 isformed with a planar guide surface 42 which is perpendicular to the axis of the guide plate aperture 43 through which support and locking bar 20 passes to support the guide plate 24. Thus, normally the guide plate 24 is supported with its guide surface 42 parallel to the guide surface 28 of the guide plate 22. However, the aperture 43 through the guide plate 24 has larger cross-sectional dimensions than those of the support and locking bar 20 permitting a small degreeof pivotal movement of the guide plate 24 about an axis perpendicular to the support and locking bar 20.

A pivot pin 45 extends through the guide plate 24 and theends thereof are captured in elongate guide slots 47 through straddling portions of the guide support frame 26 and extending parallel to the lengthof the-support and locking bar 20. A tension spring 49 is connected between the guide support frame 26 and the guide plate 24 to resiliently urge the guide plate 24 toward the guide support frame 26 and the pivot pin 45 toward the left end of the guide slots 47 as viewed in FIG. 2.

In use, the tray 12, is moved vertically downward against the compression spring 16 and locked into the position illustrated in phantomlines in FIG. 3. The release lever 37 is then moved against its tension spring 40 to the position illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 3 to move the locking roller 35 away from contact with the support and locking bar 20 and to slide the guide support frame 26 and the guide plate 24 toward the right as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 away from the position for the stack of sheets. Next, a stack of sheets 10 is placed on the tray 12 against the guide surface 28 of the stationary guide plate 22.

pivot its guide surface 42 away from the guide surface 28 of the guide plate 22 to assure contact of the guide surface 42 with the lateral edge of the uppermost sheet The guide plate 24 and the guide support frame 26 I are next moved to the left as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 by grasping the guide plate 24 above the support and locking bar 20 and sliding it along the bar. This sliding movement to the left as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 is not resisted since the locking roller 35 tends to roll in a counterclockwise direction up the elongate locking slot 33 and out of locking position. As the guide surface 42 of the guide plate 24 contacts the stack of sheets the oversized aperture 43 through the guide plate 24 permits the guide plate 24 to pivot on the pivot pin 45 and in thestack. The pivoting movement is limited to about 2 away from vertical by the ends of the aperture 43 through the guide plate 24 contacting the support and locking bar 20 (see FIG. 3). In this position the guide plate 24 will normally feel tight against the stack of sheets and the operator will discontinue sliding of the guide plate 24 and the guide support frame 26 along the support and locking bar 20.

Finally, the tray 12 is released-from its locked position and allowed to move upward under the force of compression spring 16 to press the uppermost sheet in the stack against the feed roller 18. .As the tray 12 is raised the stack of sheets wedged the guide plate 24 to the right as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3. As the guide plate 24 moves to the right the tension spring 49 attempts to pull the guide support frame 26 with the guide plate 24. This causes the locking roller 35 to attempt to roll in a clockwise direction on the support and locking bar 20. The clockwise rotation of the locking roller 35 causes it to roll toward the lower or locking end of the locking slot 33 through the guide support frame 26. This action wedges the bar 20 between the locking roller 35 and the locking block 31 and prevents the guide support frame 26 from moving. With the guide support frame 26 locked to the bar 20 and the guide plate 24 moving to the right as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 the pivot pin 45 moves to the right in the guide slots 47 against the force of tension spring 49 which then spring loads the guide surface 42 of the guide plate 24 against the edge of the stack of sheets 10. The guide surface 42 of the guide plate 24 of course remains inclined to the support and locking bar to assure contact thereof with the lateral edge of the uppermost sheet in the stack to properly align the same.

As paper is fed from the stack of sheets 10 by the feed roller 18, the irregularities in the stack move to the top of the stack and, as they contact the guide surface 42 of the guide plate 24 they are registered against the guide surface 28 of the stationary guide plate 22. However, if the irregularity is so large that the force of the tension spring 49 cannot register the paper against the stationary guide surface 28, the guide plate 24 can move furthr to the right as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 against the force of tension spring 49 to allow the irregularly stacked paper to be fed without jamming.

I claim:

l. A guide for the lateral edges of a stack of sheets of paper supported on a tray with the transverse edges thereof horizontal, said guide comprising:

means'defining a first planar guide surface perpen dicular to said tray to guide one lateral edge of the stack of sheets,

a support and locking bar extending over said tray .and the stack of sheets parallel to the transverse edges of the sheets,

a guide support frame mounted on and slidable along said support and locking bar,

means for releasably locking said guide support frame to said support and locking bar,

a guide plate having a planar surface defining a second guide surfacefor contacting and guiding the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets,

means supporting said guide plate for movement with said guide support frame along said support and locking bar and for inclination of said second planar guide surface relative to said support and locking bar away from said first guide surface when said second guide surface is in contact with the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets, and

means for resiliently urging said guide plate to bias said second guide surface toward contact with the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets.

2. The guide of claim 1 wherein said means for releasably locking said guide support frame to said support and locking bar comprises:

a locking block supported by said frame in contact with said bar,

a locking roller supported'in an elongate slot through said frame to the opposite side of said bar from said locking block and with its axis perpendicular to the length of said bar, said elongate slot extending away from said planar guide wall at an angle ofless than 15 to said bar to guide locking roller into and away from contact with said bar,

means for resiliently urging said locking roller along said elongate slot into contactwith said bar to lock said guide support frame to said bar, and

means for withdrawing said locking roller along said slot away from contact with said bar to unlock said guide support frame from said bar.

3. The guide of claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said guide plate supports said guide plate with its said second guide surface normally perpendicular to the length of said support and locking bar and for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to the lateral edges of the stack of sheets in a direction away from said first guide surface upon contact with the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets.

4. The guide of claim 1 wherein said means supporting said guide plate comprises:

a support aperture formed through siad guide plate extending perpendicular to said second planar guide surface through which said support and locking bar passes to support said guide plate, said support aperture having larger dimensions than said support and locking bar to permit pivoting of said second guide surface away from said first guide surface.

a pivot pin connecting said guide plate to said frame through an elongate guide slot formed through said guide frame parallel to said support aperture, said pivot pin defining the pivot axis for said guide plate.

5. A guide for paper having two parallel lateral edges,

10 said guide comprising:

means defining a first planar guide surface to guide one lateral edge of the paper,

a support and locking bar extending perpendicular to the lateral edges of the paper from said first planar guide surface and beyond the opposed lateral edge of the paper,

a guide support frame mounted on and slidable along said support and locking bar,

releasable locking means for releasably locking said guide support frame to said support and locking bar, said releasable locking means including a locking roller supported in an elongate slot through said frame to one side of said support and locking bar with its axis perpendicular to the length of said bar, said elongate slot extending away from said first planar guide wall at an angle of less than 15 to said bar to guide said locking roller into and away from contact with said bar, means for resiliently urging said locking roller along said elongate slot into contact with said bar to lock said guide support frame to said bar, and means for withdrawing said locking roller along said slot away from contact with said bar to unlock said guide support frame from said bar.

a guide plate having a planar surface defining a second guide surface for contacting and guiding the second lateral edge of the paper, and

means supporting said guide plate for movement with said guide support frame along said support and locking bar. 

1. A guide for the lateral edges of a stack of sheets of paper supported on a tray with the transverse edges thereof horizontal, said guide comprising: means defining a first planar guide surface perpendicular to said tray to guide one lateral edge of the stack of sheets, a support and locking bar extending over said tray and the stack of sheets parallel to the transverse edges of the sheets, a guide support frame mounted on and slidable along said support and locking bar, means for releasably locking said guide support frame to said support and locking bar, a guide plate having a planar surface defining a second guide surface for contacting and guiding the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets, means supporting said guide plate for movement with said guide support frame along said support and locking bar and for inclination of said second planar guide surface relative to said support and locking bar away from said first guide surface when said second guide surface is in contact with the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets, and means for resiliently urging said guide plate to bias said second guide surface toward contact with the second lateral edge of the stack of sheets.
 2. The guide of claim 1 wherein said means for releasably locking said guide support frame to said support and locking bar comprises: a locking block supported by said frame in contact with said bar, a locking roller supported in an elongate slot through said frame to the opposite side of said bar from said locking block and with its axis perpendicular to the length of said bar, said elongate slot extending away from said planar guide wall at an angle of less than 15* to said bar to guide locking roller into and away from contact with said bar, means for resiliently urging said locking roller along said elongate slot into contact with said bar to lock said guide support frame to said bar, and means for withdrawing said locking roller along said slot away from contact with said bar to unlock said guide support frame from said bar.
 3. The guide of claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said guide plate supports said guide plate with its said second guide surface normally perpendicular to the length of said support and locking bar and for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to the lateral edges of the stack of sheets in a direction away from said first guide surface upon contact with the second lateral edge Of the stack of sheets.
 4. The guide of claim 1 wherein said means supporting said guide plate comprises: a support aperture formed through siad guide plate extending perpendicular to said second planar guide surface through which said support and locking bar passes to support said guide plate, said support aperture having larger dimensions than said support and locking bar to permit pivoting of said second guide surface away from said first guide surface. a pivot pin connecting said guide plate to said frame through an elongate guide slot formed through said guide frame parallel to said support aperture, said pivot pin defining the pivot axis for said guide plate.
 5. A guide for paper having two parallel lateral edges, said guide comprising: means defining a first planar guide surface to guide one lateral edge of the paper, a support and locking bar extending perpendicular to the lateral edges of the paper from said first planar guide surface and beyond the opposed lateral edge of the paper, a guide support frame mounted on and slidable along said support and locking bar, releasable locking means for releasably locking said guide support frame to said support and locking bar, said releasable locking means including a locking roller supported in an elongate slot through said frame to one side of said support and locking bar with its axis perpendicular to the length of said bar, said elongate slot extending away from said first planar guide wall at an angle of less than 15* to said bar to guide said locking roller into and away from contact with said bar, means for resiliently urging said locking roller along said elongate slot into contact with said bar to lock said guide support frame to said bar, and means for withdrawing said locking roller along said slot away from contact with said bar to unlock said guide support frame from said bar. a guide plate having a planar surface defining a second guide surface for contacting and guiding the second lateral edge of the paper, and means supporting said guide plate for movement with said guide support frame along said support and locking bar. 